Beauty And The Geek is back on our TV screens, but fans have been left wondering why the wholesome show still refuses to cast female geeks.
WATCH: Beauty And The Geek returns in 2022
The reality TV hit was rebooted in 2021 with a new host, Sophie Monk, and whole new format that focuses more on self-confidence and positive connections.
Casting geeks from all sorts of backgrounds – including men with autism – and beauties with diverse life experiences and their own personal struggles, the series seems more progressive than ever.
So why are there still no female geeks or male beauties on our screens?
READ NEXT: We already know which couple wins Beauty And The Geek 2022
Fans have voiced their frustration with the show’s casting on social media lately, complaining that it’s ignoring a beautiful and diverse community of lady geeks in Australia.
“Could we have some female geeks for future shows please?” one penned on Twitter when the 2022 cast was revealed.
“What if they reversed the roles and have female geeks?” another begged.
In case you forgot, the show did introduce a male ‘beauty’ named Troy and female ‘geek’ named Helen back in 2011, but never cast another female geek in the original series or the reboot.
The absence of any female geeks on the show got fans speculating that perhaps “female geeks don’t sell on TV”, as one said on Twitter.
Others suggested that “maybe none would apply” – though we seriously doubt that – or perhaps producers didn’t want male and female beauties hooking up and ignoring their geeks.
WATCH: Beauty And The Geek cast a female geek in 2011
After all, that’s what happened with Helen and Troy; he was romantically involved with two of the female beauties, though he remained friends with Helen.
While we don’t know the exact reason BATG chooses to cast exclusively male geeks and female beauties, the decision has left a sour taste in the mouths of many.
Some have claimed that the current format perpetuates “sexist” ideals about intelligence, attractiveness, gender roles and relationships.
READ NEXT: New photos PROVE fan theory about ‘fake’ geeks
“Not only does it push this idea that only guys can be geeks and only girls can be beauties,” super-fan Melanie tells WHO.
“It also says that beautiful women should give less conventionally attractive guys a shot, but not the other way around.”
Movies and TV shows have a long history of showing model-level hot women falling for nerdy men who don’t fit the stereotypical leading man mould for decades now.
Think Jonah Hill hooking up with Brie Larson and Amber Stevens West in the Jump Street movies, or Johnny Galecki’s Leonard ending up with Kaley Cuoco’s Penny in The Big Bang Theory.
In fact, one of the few films to reverse this trope (kind of) is Shallow Hal, where Jack Black sees his overweight girlfriend (played by Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit) as stick thin and model gorgeous for most of the film. Let’s not even go there.
Melanie is among a vocal group of fans who claim that by choosing not to cast male beauties and female geeks, BATG is contributing to this outdated trope.
Instead, they’re calling on the show to prove that men can be handsome airheads and women can be awkward nerds too – and they’re just as valid.
“If they do [cast female geeks] I don’t want it to just be hot gamer girls though,” fan Grace tells WHO, referring to the beautiful women who are popular in online gaming communities.
“I want bookish nerds who have never been on a date and girls who went to all-girl schools and never learned how to talk to guys.”
She wants the male beauties to be as “emotionally vulnerable” as the female beauties we currently see on the show too.
With the rise in popularity of ‘himbos’ – hot but kind of dumb men – in recent years, reality TV viewers would undoubtedly enjoy this kind of casting mixup.
But will it happen? While BATG doesn’t appear to have any plans for a female geek, male beauty season, host Sophie Monk has said it could happen in the future.
“Nowadays anything works. I definitely think so, I think as the show develops, if it works, then hell yeah,” Sophie told Pedestrian in 2021.
“I don’t think it matters if it’s a man or a woman [playing the geek].”
And some of the beauties this year have their own geeky interests too, like quirky Angelique and ‘professional mermaid’ Tara.
For now it looks like we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed and wait for the day the show announces a season with bona fide female geeks.
READ NEXT: Which Beauty And The Geek 2022 couples are still together?
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
